We're seeing China push very hard in its immediate neighborhood, particularly in the maritime zone surrounding China, to kind of create a security zone for itself, trying to lock in the territorial and maritime gains that it can now, before a period of much more difficult choices arises some time in the 2020s.
Howard W. FrenchBaby boom generation in China will start to hit retirement age in the very next few years, let's say by the end of this decade.
Howard W. FrenchChina has its own Baby Boom generation. And China's baby boom generation, because of the size of China itself, is the world's largest baby boom generation.
Howard W. FrenchEmphasis in China is done aggressively. Sometimes, this is done rudely, but most of the time it's just done routinely. It's just a normal thing in the course of your encounters with Chinese people in every walk of life.
Howard W. FrenchWhen you arrive in China nowadays, one of the first things you note is the emphasis placed on you, a non-Chinese person, being an outsider.
Howard W. FrenchChina, the world's most populous country, 1.3, 1.4 billion people, will in the next decade or so have to begin looking for people outside of China.What does this mean? China will have to become a much more welcoming society. It means that China will have to attract immigrants from other countries in order to slow the aging of the population.
Howard W. FrenchSoon numbers of Chinese people will exit the work force, and the Chinese work force, which has already begun to shrink, will shrink in a vastly accelerated way. And so China's going to face huge retirement costs and Social Security costs, health care costs, related to this immense aging of the population.
Howard W. French